Title Let's Rise Again (Romans 13:11-14)
Contents
Title Let's Rise Again / Scripture Romans 13:11-14 / Space Daebok Church
***Introduction
There are many reasons why humans are different from animals, but I think the most unique thing is that they have dreams, that is, ideals. There is nothing wrong with beasts. But there is only reality. If you take dreams away from people, you will be like an unreasonable beast. In other words, a life with principles is a living life.
But there are far more people in the world who don't realize their ideals than there are those who do. Why?
1) This is because they set up ideals that cannot be achieved by their own abilities.
Everyone has their own fractions and abilities, and their own circumstances and circumstances. You must know your own abilities and set up an ideal that suits your circumstances and situation. If you don't, you will fall into frustration and discouragement when it doesn't happen. That's why Socrates said, "Know thyself".
2) It is because they cannot coolly recognize and analyze reality.
Reality means facts and circumstances as they are here and now. Ideals ignoring reality are mere fantasies, and eventually degenerate into delusions.
3) It is because the spirit of full-fledged fighting is lacking.
In order to realize the ideal, you will have to shed blood, tears and sweat, and you will have to fight and overcome the obstacles of reality. This battle is harder and more difficult to fight with internal problems than with external problems. In other words, I have to fight myself and win. The one who overcomes himself can be the victor. That is why it was said, “If it is 知彼知己, it is 百 warfare 百勝” and “修身齊家治國平天下”.
A person without ideals has no plan for life and lacks responsibility for actions. I am lethargic in everything and pass the time in vain.
This phenomenon becomes more prominent as society becomes more specialized and highly developed. This is the phenomenon of the end. People are more anxious because of numerous natural disasters, national economic crises, and the underlying distrust of society. So I look in the wrong direction to forget.
Christians need to shine even more in times like these. That is why the Apostle Paul emphasizes through the text that now is the time to shake off and rise. Not only that, God through the prophet Isaiah declared that when the time of the end of Israel was near, he would shake off and rise.
- Verse 11, Isaiah 60:1-3, “Arise, shine. For your light has come, and the glory of the LORD is upon you. Behold, darkness will cover the earth, and darkness will cover all peoples, but the Lord will come upon you, and his glory will appear upon you; the nations will come to your light, and kings to your shining light.”
1. Let's get up from where we were in the past.
The words of today's text are the words that gave St. Augustine (Augustinus 354-430) a turning point in his youth when he fell.
“And ye know the hour, that the hour has come to awake from sleep, for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed.”
“This period” here refers to the time when Jesus Christ returns, and it indicates that the Lord's return is imminent on this earth. See Matthew 24:42-44. “Wake up. For you do not know on what day your Lord will come. You know, if the owner of the house had known at what point the thief was coming, he would have been awake and would not have broken through the house. Therefore, you also be prepared. The Son of Man will come at an hour you do not expect.”
- 1 Thessalonians 5:2-3, “For yourselves know in detail that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. When they say, “Peace and safety,” then sudden destruction will come upon them, as the pain of childbirth on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.”
The society we live in now promotes desperation, laziness, and escape-oriented pleasures. A world where no effort is made, a society where there is no work at all, the misery that has to be attached to one's life, the corrupt and corrupt leadership and the powerful, etc. In addition, “El Ni o” and “La Ni a” are natural disasters such as drought, flood, red tide, pollution, etc. People say, “I have to do one thing well… ”, and is slowly sinking under the pretense that the reality is heavy and unfavorable (衆寡不敵). Even believers are suffering from a lack of faith.
But now you have to get up. We need to break free from all the negative molds around us. Because the phenomena before us have already been foretold by Jesus. In other words, he foretold in advance that these things would appear as a phenomenon of the end times.
- Matthew 24, Dan 12:4, 10
The church is a tower built in this age, and the saints are sentinel watchmen. Therefore, you must be awake. In today's unstable and tense society, when the night of sin is deep and complicated, we need to be awake.
How should I stay awake? We must be awake to the Word, awake to prayer, awake to thanksgiving, awake to praise, and our soul to be awake.
The reason for telling me to stay awake is clear. Because our salvation is closer than ever before, and our enemy, the devil, never sleeps while we sleep and rest.
- 1 Peter 5:8-9, "Be sober and awake, for your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
The devil does not make people commit great sins from the beginning. They don't even use tricks to suddenly corrupt them. An anesthetic is sprayed to make the person doze off religiously. Believe in Jesus, but in a pleasant and easy way, he pours an anesthetic slowly to make him fall asleep. And then I steal the most precious treasure, faith, and steal souls.
Therefore, you must be awake. And you have to sprint.
2. Let's run with all our might.
- Text verses 12-14
What is All One's Power Scamper? Literally translated, it means 'to run fast with all your might'. It means living life to the fullest.
To sprint, you must first change your clothes. Everything that is cumbersome should be removed. Cyclists must wear tight-fitting clothing, streamlined helmets, wheels with minimal resistance, and reduce their own weight to reduce air resistance. I do everything I can to prepare. The same goes for runners.
Racers of faith must also remove the obstacles to their faith. And you must wear the armor of light, the sportswear of saints. What is Light Armor? It is the conduct of the saints in the world.
- Text 13-14, 1 Thessalonians 5:6-8, “Therefore, let us not sleep like others, but let us be alert and sober. Those who sleep sleep at night, and those who are drunk get drunk at night, but since we belong to the day, let us be sober and put on the breastplate of faith and love, and put on the helmet of hope of salvation.” 11, “Therefore, exhort one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.”
Revelation 18:8, “And he gave him to put on a bright and clean linen linen, which is the right conduct of the saints.”
God tells us to wake up from a deep sleep. It is to wake up for the growth of faith and to be able to carry out the mission. While we are proud of counting and boasting only 10 or 20 years of faith, our faith will harden and eventually die.
Faith is not a theory, it is the ability to put it into practice. It's not regression, it's not maintenance, it's renewal. That is, it must be renewed day by day.
- 1 Corinthians 4:19-20, “But I will come to you quickly, if the Lord permits, and I will not seek the words of the proud, but their power, for the kingdom of God does not consist in words, but in power. ”
Are you not spiritually depressed right now?
Now is not the time to go to sleep, but rather the time to wake up. For the night is deep and the day is near. By “night” here we mean time in this world, not actual night. “Day” refers to life in heaven through the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.
Therefore, now is the time to wake up and sprint to the joy of victory at the Second Coming of Jesus.
- 1 Corinthians 8:24-27, “Do you not know that in the field all runners run away, but only one gets the prize? Run in the same way that you may gain. Everyone who competes for the victory is temperate in all things; they want a corruptible crown, but we want the incorruptible. Therefore, I do not run as if I was aimless, and I do not fight as if I was striking the air, so I beat my body to submission, lest after I preach to others, I myself would be rejected.”
For whom do you believe in Jesus? What do you believe in Jesus to get? For yourself, get up now. And let it shine.